


Deck the Halls (of Anubis House) with Boughs of Holly

by marshmallownose



Category: House of Anubis
Genre: ...ignore that, Christmas fluff and humor, Fluff and Humor, Friendship, Gen, I messed up bc i forgot Trudy wasn't the housemother in season 2, Jewish!Nina Martin, Season 2 setting, Sibuna Secret Santa 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-03
Packaged: 2019-09-06 11:46:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16831996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marshmallownose/pseuds/marshmallownose
Summary: Christmas: A time for friends to come together as a household (and drive each other only slightly crazy)





	Deck the Halls (of Anubis House) with Boughs of Holly

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kittenshark](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=kittenshark).



> This work is part of the Sibuna Secret Santa 2018 event! This was created as a gift for @kittenshark on Tumblr, who wished for, 'HOA: First 2 seasons anything about the gang celebrating the holidays (No specific ships; platonic)'. (not quoted exactly haha) Hope you enjoy, and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

_“Hold on tight!”_

Joy shrieked in surprised delight as Eddie’s arms wrapped around her waist, lifting her high enough to reach the very top of the doorframe leading into the kitchen. Laughing, she pinned up the last of the garland, and Eddie obligingly lowered her back to Earth.

Patricia peeked her head through the opening in the wall from the kitchen, lips twitching in amusement. “I thought for sure he’d drop you,” she quipped, pointing her rolling pin at them as she leaned further out into the living room. Flour streaked her hair and face, and Eddie chuckled.

“Yacker, you look like the Pillsbury Doughboy’s wife,” he teased, reaching out to brush away some flour from her cheek. She glared without any heat behind it, swatting his hand away with the rolling pin and pulling back through the opening.

“Jokes on you. Anyone’d be _lucky_ to be have the Pillsbury Doughboy as a husband,” Patricia said, returning to her previous task of rolling out the gingerbread dough.

Trudy chuckled from where she was pulling one batch of cookies from the oven. “Don’t tease her, Eddie,” Trudy warned bemusedly. “She might sabotage your cookie.”

“Bold of you to assume she hasn’t already,” Joy snickered, lifting a box of tinsel from the floor behind the couch.

Patricia and Eddie rolled their eyes simultaneously, and Trudy shook her head fondly. The patter of feet behind her caused her to pause, but when she turned to look, no one was there. _Except…_

“ _Hmm_ …” she bummed out loud, drawing the attention of the three teens. “I could have _sworn_ there were a dozen cookies on this tray a moment ago, but now there are only _ten_.” Trudy fixed her gaze on the conspicuously ajar laundry room door. “I wonder where those two could have gone.”

Knowing the jig was up, Alfie sheepishly exited the laundry room, speaking through a mouthful of gingerbread, “You _know_ I can’t resist a Trudy/Trixie baking collaboration,” he groaned, relishing in the flavor before finally swallowing. “You two blow Gordon Ramsey out of the water.”

Trudy, who’d attempted to stay stern, could no longer hold back her giggles, laughing along with Joy, Patricia, and Eddie.

Jerome and Mara made their entrance then, chatting quietly about this and that, before Jerome stopped short, breathing in deeply. “Trudy, you’ve outdone yourself again,” he praised, practically sprinting into the kitchen, only to be halted by Trudy’s body in the doorway.

“ _These_ are for _later_ ,” she admonished, shooing both him and Alfie back into the living room. “And don’t give _me_ all the credit; Patricia was the one to do most of the work.”

Alfie and Jerome shared a brief look, then dramatically began to whoop and clap. Patricia sarcastically curtsied, and Mara shook her head fondly, moving to hover by Joy and Eddie.

“Where are the others?” she asked, leaning against the dinner table.

Eddie shrugged. “I think picking up the tree,” he said, and Joy’s smile faltered.

“That used to be _our_ thing, remember Trisha?” Joy said wistfully, and Patricia smiled softly. “You, me, and Fabes.”

“Well…now our thing is decorating and baking,” Patricia said, still smiling even as she tried to steer her best friend away from boy-talk.

Alfie moaned as he bit into his second stolen cookie. “And you’re _so_ good at your new thing.”

The front door burst open, and cold air tore through the house. Amber’s shrill babble floated in from the foyer.

“…and _that’s_ why One Direction is the most unproblematic boy band to ever walk the earth— _including_ the Beatles,” she was saying, removing her white fluffy earmuffs and tossing them on one of the chairs along with her equally fluffy mittens. Eddie was biting his knuckles to keep from laughing at the blonde’s grand entrance, and Patricia didn’t even try to hide her laughter.

In the foyer, Nina and Fabian were left to wrestle with the tree.

“ _Uh-huh, Amber, sure_ ,” Fabian placated his friend, who’d almost immediately turned her attention to the pretty Christmas decorations in the living room, as he tried to get the body of the Christmas tree through the door without pulling all the pine needles off. Nina held the trunk in her mittened grip, grunting with the effort of trying to push it through.

“You know,” she said, strained, “this is only the second time I’ve ever celebrated Christmas.” She pushed on the trunk, while Fabian pulled. “Hanukkah is _not_ this much effort last I checked.”

Fabian laughed at his friend—gosh, that still stung—finally getting the birth of the tree through into the foyer. “I’ll bet,” he agreed, and Nina smiled at him from the other side of the evergreen. “You don’t have to celebrate if you’re not comfortable, you know.”

Nina raised an eyebrow, mouth turned up in a half smile. “And let you guys have all the fun while I sit in my room alone playing Dreidel?” She shook her head. “No way. Besides,” Nina added with a giggle, “I already did that two weeks ago.”

Fabian laughed too, remembering the flabbergasted look on Amber’s face as Nina tried to teach her the basic gist of Dreidel during one of the nights of Hanukkah. Safe to say, Amber had chosen to be a spectator instead.

“Sorry to break up the _Yuletide cheer_ ,” Jerome drawled from the living room door, snapping Fabian and Nina from their conversation, “but do either of you need assistance setting this thing up?”

Eddie appeared behind him, one hand bracing himself against the doorframe. “Two strong men at your service,” said Eddie, flexing his biceps.

From the kitchen, Patricia guffawed loudly. “More like two little boys!” she crooned, and Eddie stuck his tongue out at her over his shoulder.

“Hey,” Fabian whined. “What about me? Am _I_ not strong enough?”

Jerome dramatically shook his head, and Nina hid her giggle at Fabian’s pout. “Of course you are, but the more help the better, right?”

The four managed to wrangle the tree into the living room, standing it up in the corner Joy and Eddie had cleared out an hour before. Mara and Joy were sorting through the box of ornaments, and Alfie was trying to eat the chocolate chips out of the bowl Trudy had set aside for the one batch of chocolate chip cookies she planned on making alongside the gingerbread.

“It’s lopesided,” commented Joy with a tiny frown.

Nina shrugged, taking off her scarf. “I think it lost a few needles on the way in.”

Patricia laughed, dusting her hands off on her apron and making her way into the living room. “It _definitely_ lost a few needles on the way in.”

Mara swatted Patricia’s arm with a gentle ‘ _Hey_.’ “Don’t listen to these two, it‘s charming,” Mara assured them warmly.

Amber rocked back and forth on her heels. “See, that’s what I thought. We can make it like the Before and After pictures in magazines. It’s ugly now, but once it gets a taste of”—she flipped her hair; Jerome immediately mocked her by doing so as well—“ _Millington beauty expertise_ , it will be the best Christmas tree at Amun Academy.”

“Amber it’s a Christmas tree, not Project Runway,” Eddie reminded her. Amber winced.

“Don’t remind me,” she sighed, lashes fluttering.

The rest of the evening was spent decorating the tree, each student claiming a section to call their own filled with their favorite ornaments and some pictures of their friends and respective homes. When at last the tree had tinsel and ornaments—not to mention the white lights, which Alfie had so haphazardly strung along the branches—it was time to decide who put the star on top.

“Joy should do it,” Patricia said, slinging an arm around her best friends shoulders and squeezing tightly. “It was her turn last year, and she didn’t get to!”

“Uh, yeah, but it’s _my_ turn this year,” argued Alfie, popping a few more chocolate chips into his mouth.

“But you did it last year anyway,” Mara pointed out.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Eddie admitted to Nina; she shrugged helplessly. After a few more moments of bickering, Eddie couldn’t help but say something. “How about I just do it?” he offered, holding the star.

Quick as lightning, Patricia snatched it from his hands. “Obviously it’s a privilege, doofus” she said with a bite to her voice that made Eddie’s heart flutter pleasantly. “Not just _anyone_ can—“

Victor stalked his way into the living room, face puckered up as though he’d tasted something sour. He pulled the star from Patricia’s grip, reached up, and unceremoniously plopped it atop the tree. “I can hear you miscreants from my office,” he bit out, narrowed gaze sweeping over the students. “Bed is still by ten; keep your… _merriment_ to a minimum.” And with that, he stalked back out and up the stairs, leaving them all in stunned silence.

It was Alfie who spoke first. “Damn, somebody is going on the naughty list for _sure_.” The Anubis House residents burst into laughter once again, forgetting their previous arguing, and spent the rest of the night—until 10 o’clock, of course—telling jokes and eating cookies around a, really, quite terribly lit Christmas tree.

~~(…seriously it was a fire hazard, and Trudy had to restring it after they all went to bed.)~~

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: This is also posted on my Tumblr @incorrectsibunaquotes, so you should go check it out there, too!  
> ANOTHER NOTE: I have two Secret Santas, so this is only number 1! Stay tuned for the second ;)


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